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In the midst of a heartfelt tale about Wayne Fleming, Lanny McDonald paused to survey the handful of jerseys behind him on the podium.

“I can’t believe they put an Oilers jersey up here,” said the Calgary Flames legend, sparking laughter from the 300 gathered at Fleming’s memorial Tuesday.

“With all due respect to Kevin (Lowe), I call BS … and I think Wayne would, too.”

Although certainly never one to mince his words, Fleming might’ve respectfully disagreed with McDonald’s playful jab.

After all, Fleming is the only man ever to coach on both sides of the provincial spat.

Fiercely proud of the long list of employers Fleming had around the hockey world, the same was true of the endless colleagues and players he called friends along the way.

“The day they fired Brad McCrimmon and I on Long Island, we were walking out the door and Wayne was crying — sobbing actually,” said Rick Bowness in the midst of a five-man Memorial Hotstove of sorts that included Pat Quinn, Barry Trotz, Ken Hitchcock and McDonald.

“We were trying to comfort him, even though management decided he should be kept on.”

Almost four months after Fleming lost his lengthy battle with brain cancer at age 62, the sizable crowd on hand at C.O.P.’s Markin MacPhail Centre to salute Fleming was treated to plenty of stories of a man who touched so many on his winding hockey trail.

A teammate from his Swiss playing days revealed Fleming’s favourite food earned him the nickname “Pudding,” setting the tone for two hours of positive reflection dotted with plenty of healing laughter.

Nashville Predators coach Trotz referred to the man who got him into coaching as his “mentor, father figure and moral compass as a coach.” Quinn credited associate coach Fleming for all the gameplans at the 2002 Salt Lake Games at which Canada won its first Olympic gold in 50 years. He also recalled “Flemmer” taking advantage of a typically lengthy Hitchcock media briefing by switching the sweatsuits of Hitch and fellow assistant Jacques Martin.

As former players and colleagues of Fleming’s attested, the native of Snowflake, Man., who started his career at the University of Manitoba, would stop at nothing to do whatever he could to make his troops as comfortable as possible going into battle.

“We showed up three days before the 2002 Olympics, and the dressing room was green and the crapper was in the middle of the room — not exactly ideal for Team Canada,” Hitchcock said with a smile.

“It was after 9/11, so security was tight, but somehow he managed to buy some red carpeting, have it installed overnight, and he shifted the entire locker-room eight feet. The problem was it made the Swedes’ locker-room a bowling alley. They bitched about it every day, and Wayne would go in and say ‘you guys got screwed — you should talk to the IOC.’ ”

Hockey Canada president Bob Nicholson presided over the memorial, held months after the NHL season ended so hockey folk like Mike Babcock, Tom Renney, Guy Boucher and a long list of others could attend. For well over a year, a who’s who of the hockey world visited Fleming in his southwest Calgary home where his indomitable spirit had all guests shaking their heads in amazement. It exemplified his lifelong message to all players: “carry your spirit”

Wife Carolyn and their four children all spoke at a ceremony punctuated by a stirring video making it crystal-clear nothing mattered more to Fleming than family.

Oh, and singing.

“Wayne used to tell me he was the best singer in Parkland, so there must have been some pretty bad singing for their street’s pig-roasts,” laughed Nicholson, a dear friend until Fleming’s passing March 25.

“I knew he loved singing, so I sang him a song last winter,” said McDonald.

“I came back a few days later and asked if he wanted me to sing again, and he said, ‘oh God, please no!’ ”

There’s that Fleming honesty — one of Pudding’s most endearing traits.